Kenyon Martin was one of the NBA's toughest players for years, a force to be reckoned with in the painted area. 

Now retired, he's preparing for a second hooping career in Ice Cube's new three-on-three lead, Big 3. That's put Martin in position to make rounds with the media, but he decided to take things into his own hands by sharing a few of his own thoughts to The Players' Tribune. 

Martin wrote about the five players that "everybody hated playing against" from his time in the NBA. The list has a few you'd expect, some great stories and a surprise or two. Can you believe a COACH made this list?

K-Mart had to get a shot in on the current state of the NBA during his intro and it was a direct hit.

"I don’t think losing bothers guys in the NBA now," Martin open.

"Everyone’s hugging out there. When we were playing, we were trying to take people’s heads off. We were out there battling every night. Nowadays, I’m surprised I haven’t seen someone dap up an opponent for making a free throw."

That's savage, but to an extent it certainly feels true. The NBA is a different place now, with social media and a different generation of players who grew up playing together in AAU or any of the blue chip colleges. 

He goes on to open the list with Reggie Evans, who he praised for being a tough teammate during their time together on the Clippers. He also had to mention the fact that Evans once grabbed Chris Kaman by the balls during a routine box out.

Next up is Kobe Bryant, the Black Mamba himself. There's only one way to do put this, so we'll let Martin do the honors.

"Kobe would fight you in a minute. He would. That’s something I think a lot of fans didn’t know. People think of Kobe for all that skillful basketball stuff, but not for the fact that, if you stepped up to him, he’d fight back. Or if you clubbed him or hit him, he’d make you pay.

"That’s ’cause Mamba would literally take your head off to win the game, man. He’d *** you up. There’s a lot of trash talking on the court, but nobody ever said *** to Kobe". 

The Mamba always had venom in his fangs when it came to opponents crossing the line:

His third pick was Ron Artest, who's had his fair share of controversy and was the catalyst in one of the worst acts of violence during an NBA game during the infamous "Malice in the Palace" brawl when he was an Indiana Pacer. 

Martin throws some shade at Artest, essentially calling him a fake tough guy who would pick on players he knew wouldn't retaliate. 

"I’m not buying Ron’s act," Martin concludes.

Kevin Garnett makes the list, and while Martin didn't have any personal stories to to tell about KG, he lays out what anyone watching could tell. All the barking and trash talk would put players on tilt, mentally wearing down opponents while physically dominating. 

The last one up is perhaps the biggest surprise, as Martin listed a coach as someone players hated playing against. Legendary Jazz coach Jerry Sloan makes the final cut, and he gave a pretty amazing anecdote about why. 

"I once hit Karl Malone upside the head. He went down hard. Given his reputation as a tough guy, I thought he was going to get up and we were going to get it on. But he didn’t do nothing.

"His coach did, though.

"Jerry Sloan ran down the sideline, screaming, “What the hell? I’m going to kick your ***!” I was so surprised. I was like, “Whoa! Sit your old *** down before I hit you too!” We got into it and they had to separate us. That was when I realized that Jerry Sloan was a tough dude."

A pretty good list, and one that Martin notes that he'd put himself on if he could.